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LEGAL AND PROTECTION POLICY
RESEARCH SERIES
Protecting People Crossing Borders in the
Context of Climate Change
Normative Gaps and Possible Approaches
Walter Klin and Nina Schrepfer
University of Bern, Switzerland
DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION
FEBRUARY 2012
PPLA/2012/01
DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION
UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR)
CP2500, 1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.unhcr.org
The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the
position of the United Nations or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This paper
may be freely quoted, cited and copied for academic, educational or other non-commercial purposes
without prior permission from UNHCR, provided that the source and authors are acknowledged. The
paper is available online at http://www.unhcr.org/protect.
Walter Klin and Nina Schrepfer 2012.
http://www.unhcr.org/http://www.unhcr.org/protect
1
Table of Contents
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................... 2
2. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 4
3. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT ....................................................................................................................... 4
3.1 CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN MOBILITY A CAUSAL LINK? ............................................... 4
3.2 CLIMATE CHANGE INDUCED DISPLACEMENT: A MATTER OF STATE RESPONSIBILITY? 7
3.3 MAGNITUDE, SCENARIOS AND TRENDS .......................................................................................... 11
3.3.1 Two Schools of Thought ................................................................................................................. 11
3.3.2 Causes of Movement: Five Scenarios ........................................................................................... 13
3.4 THE LEGAL CONTEXT ............................................................................................................................... 17
3.4.1 General Obligations of States in the Context of Climate Change ........................................... 17
3.4.2 Relevant Categories of Persons and Applicable Legal Frameworks ...................................... 22
4. GAPS IN THE PRESENT PROTECTION REGIME ....................................................................................... 28
4.1. LACK OF AN AGREED TERMINOLOGY ............................................................................................. 28
4.2. NORMATIVE GAPS ................................................................................................................................... 30
4.2.1 Internal Displacement: Norms, but Weak Implementation ..................................................... 30
4.2.2 Displacement Across Borders: Why Refugee Law Does (Not) Apply .................................... 31
4.2.3 Migration Across Borders: The Limitations of Human Rights Law ....................................... 34
4.3 OPERATIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL GAPS ................................................................................... 43
5. THE WAY FORWARD ......................................................................................................................................... 45
5.1 ANALYSIS OF EXISTING APPROACHES .............................................................................................. 45
5.1.1 Domestic Level.................................................................................................................................. 45
5.1.2 Regional Level .................................................................................................................................. 46
5.1.3 International Level ........................................................................................................................... 49
5.1.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 58
5.2 POSSIBLE APPROACHES AND STRATEGIES ..................................................................................... 58
5.2.1 A Four Prong Strategy ..................................................................................................................... 58
5.2.2 Identifying people in need of protection abroad ...................................................................... 62
5.3 TOWARDS NEW INSTRUMENTS ........................................................................................................... 67
5.3.1 The Challenges of Creating an International Regime ............................................................... 67
5.3.2 Treaty Law versus Soft Law ........................................................................................................... 69
5.3.3 A Multi-Level Approach to Closing the Protection Gaps ......................................................... 72
6. CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................................................... 77
2
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This paper first presents the background to and context of current discussions and approaches
surrounding climate change-related human mobility across borders (Part 1) before identifying
the normative gaps in the present international protection regime together with institutional and
operational shortcomings (Part 2). It argues that while a relationship between climate change,
environmental events and displacement/migration exists, direct causalities are difficult to
establish. Rather, such movements are triggered by multiple causes. This has several
implications:
(1) While the question of the responsibility of states that historically have been and continue to
be the main emitters of greenhouse gases is legitimate and relevant, identifying the needs of
people moving across borders in the context of climate change and analysing how these needs
should be addressed from a human rights perspective is more appropriate than an approach that
would put the responsibility of traditional emitters to admit affected people in the forefront.
(2) Because it is difficult to predict the number of persons who will be displaced or who will
decide to migrate for reasons linked to climate change, devising policies on the basis of needs
and corresponding rights rather than numbers seems more adequate even though there are clear
indications that the numbers will grow.
(3) Despite the complex relationship between climate change and population movements, five
scenarios can be identified that trigger such movements. These scenarios are sudden-onset
disasters; slow-onset environmental degradation; the destruction of small island states by rising
sea levels; areas designated as prohibited for human habitation because of mitigation and
adaptation measures or because of a high risk of disasters occurring there; and unrest, violence
and conflict over resources diminishing as a consequence of climate change.
In this context, the paper explores general obligations of states at the three levels of mitigation,
adaptation and protection. The existence and applicability of legal frameworks differ
significantly with respect to the character of the movement of persons, and thus depend on
whether such movement takes place within the territory of a state or across borders as well as
whether it can be considered voluntary or forced. The lack of an agreed terminology is
acknowledged as gap. However, this paper does not consider this absence as a real problem and
therefore does neither analyse the many existing definitions nor propose new terminology.
Rather, in analyzing relevant branches of international law, the paper concludes that three
critical legal issues remain unaddressed: (1) criteria to distinguish between voluntary and forced
movements, though such distinction is necessary in light of the fact that international law treats
them differently; (2) rights related to admittance and stay on foreign territory; (3) the legal
situation and rights of persons on foreign territories, i.e. status rights.
3
In exploring possible avenues, the paper analyses existing approaches to address cross-border
displacement and migration at the domestic, regional and international levels as well as
suggestions by private institutions. A strategy based on the four pillars of prevention, migration
management, temporary and permanent protection schemes and resettlement is proposed for
normative regulations and a returnability test is suggested as a tool to better distinguish between
forced and voluntary movements. In balancing the advantages and disadvantages of a hard
versus soft law instrument, the paper suggests a multi-level approach to best address the multi-
faceted challenges of cross-border migration and displacement at the normative level (Part 3).
4
2. INTRODUCTION
Climate change creates many challenges for indi